Starter Home: Cork home has the city on its doorstep

HERE are old stone wall back boundaries, and a sort of clipped-on faux stone facade cladding in front of 5 West View, right at the city end of Cork’s Boreenmanna Road.

Dating most likely to the early 1900s, and with the quarry-set Rockboro co-ed national school school directly behind and beneath it, this mid-terraced home almost literally has the city on its doorstep, with the south link road junction just 100 metres away.

Renovated and upgraded, No 5 is a 750 sq ft two-storey home with one of its three bedrooms at ground level, left of a central hallway, and two more upstairs where there’s also a bathroom.

Other ground floor space includes a living room, with solid fuel stove set in a hearth with stone trim behind and, as in the bedrooms across the hall, windows facing the road have old pine shutters. To the back of the house is a utility, and a kitchen with pine units and rear garden access.

That outdoor space faces south (the address West View appears to be a misnomer) and has old stone walls, whitewashed, and a gravelled courtyard, plus there’s a steel shed for storage.

Estate agents Claire Dennehy and Michael O’Donovan of Savills guide at €245,000 and say having this private, easily-kept space so close to the city is a real bonus.

For those walking to and from the city, the original Boreenmanna Road and Rockboro Avenue give safe passage leading to the South Infirmary, and drivers have ‘the link’ at their disposal, while car parking is available on-street.